Sidney Sings
"Sidney Sings" is the 467th episode of Thomas & Friends, as well as its twentieth season's premiere. Summary With Thomas' help, Sidney makes up a song to remind himself of his jobs. Plot Sidney has been very forgetful a lot of times. He can remember the time he had to get new wheels but can't remember how long he had to hang up on the ceiling to wait for them. One day, Sidney is taking a train of empty trucks to Blue Mountain Quarry, when he comes across Percy being placed on a flatbed after having an accident. Percy tells Sidney that he damaged his wheels in the crash and tries to remind him about the time he damaged his own wheels, but Sidney does not remember this. He then leaves to take his trucks to the quarry, but goes the wrong way. A few days later, Sidney is at Knapford Station, when the Fat Controller arrives. He tells Sidney that Percy's new wheels have arrived, and he wants him to go to the Docks and bring them to the Steamworks. Sidney fears that he will forget about his job, so Thomas suggests that he sing a song to remind him about it. Sidney likes the idea, and begins singing a little song to himself as he leaves the station. Sidney arrives at Wellsworth Station, where Gordon is waiting with the express. Sidney tells Gordon about his special job, but Gordon teases and laughs at him, and then leaves. Sidney sets off down the line, but as he does, he forgets what his song and job were. After some thinking, he comes to the conclusion that he has to pick up an old boiler from the rubbish dump, and sets off at once. At the dump, Whiff is shunting trucks of rubbish, when Sidney arrives. Sidney tells Whiff about his job, but Whiff tells him that the rubbish dump has no boilers. He tells Sidney that elephants never forget anything, which makes Sidney believe that he has to pick up an elephant from the Animal Park. He leaves the rubbish dump and arrives at the Animal Park, but finds no elephants. Sidney returns to Knapford, where he finds a group of passengers complaining about their train being late. Sidney believes that this is his special job, and takes the passengers to Brendam Docks. When he arrives, he finds the Fat Controller waiting for him, and the Fat Controller reminds him about Percy and his new set of wheels. Sidney takes the new wheels to the Steamworks, cheerfully singing along the way. By the time Sidney arrives at the Steamworks, it is already evening. When Percy asks him about his whereabouts, Sidney does not remember, but tells Percy that he has brought his new wheels and asks Percy if he thought he would have forgot. The two engines laugh together. Trivia *Although credited, Rob Rackstraw (James/Toby) and Jules de Jongh (Emily) are absent from this episode. *This episode is the first episode to have music composed by Chris Renshaw. *Stock footage from "The Missing Christmas Decorations" is used as a reference to the said episode is made. *Keith Wickham and Martin Sherman's lines as Percy in the stock footage are re-dubbed and said by Nigel Pilkington and Christopher Ragland. *The song is similar to "Little Brown Jug" by Joseph Winner. *This episode marks the first appearance of the red express coaches in full CGI, and their first appearance since the twelfth season. Production *This episode marks, overall, the ninth writing credit for Lee Pressman. It also marks the eleventh directing credit for Dianna Basso. Reception 'Ratings' The episode was very well received, and scored an 8/10 from Ffarqhuar Branch Studios. 'Reviews' The episode was met with positive reviews. *Chris Tomson of Ffarquhar Branch Line Studios gave the episode a positive review: 8 out of 10. He had initially expected it to be mediocre, but was surprised at how good it turned out to be. He praised Sidney's method of helping him remember his job, and found his role in the episode natural; he even liked the flashback from The Missing Christmas Decorations. He concluded that "Sidney has a lot of charm (he actually does Dory's schtick better than Dory herself), the job he's given actually makes sense and it's a story that suits him really well." Gallery This is a gallery of photographic stills released to promote the episode. Thomas & Friends 20x01.png References Category:Season 20 Episodes (Thomas & Friends) Category:Season Premieres